In what is considered major fashion news, 28-year-old American Asian designer Alexander Wang takes over from Nicholas Ghesquière's tough-to-follow act as creative director of the hot couture house founded in 1918 by Basque designer Cristobal Balenciaga.

On Friday WWD announced the news was imminent and an official statement from PPR, the parent company of Balenciaga, is expected on Monday.

"In 1987, the name [Balenciaga] was revived as a prêt-à-porter label, but it wasn't until 1997, when the youthful French designer Nicolas Ghesquière came onboard as creative director, that the house began to regain its former prominence," chronicles Style.com. "Giving concepts from the rich Balenciaga archives an intriguing rethink, the instinctively progressive Ghesquière was dubbed a new messiah by the press."

Balenciaga hired Ghesquière when he was 26. Wang is 28 with solid credentials as a contemporary market designer, including a women's collection, men's wear, a successful leather goods business and a second line called T by Alexander Wang. His career took off after he bagged the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2008.

Wang's efforts are expected to drive the brand's global commercial footprint in its 62 stores, especially in Asia where Balenciaga already has 11 stores in Mainland China.

Equally important is what direction design will take.

Wang's appointment mirrors his predecessors in two ways: both designers symbolize youth and mirror the future of women's pret. But an evolution from the glossy futurism of Ghesquière to the cool T-shirts, trousers and bomber jackets — the rolled-out-of-bed M.O.D (models-off-duty) global urban streetwear vibe — of Wang is difficult to imagine. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Wang could really surprise in 2013, providing a new roadmap for luxury fashion as Raf Simons did at his Dior debut this year.